


Flynn

by WhosSeenJezebel



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-19
Packaged: 2018-05-12 10:16:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5662636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhosSeenJezebel/pseuds/WhosSeenJezebel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When someone from Prentiss' past shows up at the BAU, the team is sent across the country in search of a missing boy. Things get complicated as they uncover more about this complicated woman who reveals a whole other side to Emily's life before joining the team.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not normally one for large Author's Notes, so I'll try to keep them at a minimum! I hope to pepper a lot of Prentiss/Hotchner in this story, but keep it realistic at the same time. If anything, just know that I ship them!  
> There are OC's in this story, but I'll do my best to keep them from being annoying.  
> I'm want to keep everyone as in character as possible, so if you feel like I'm writing them please let me know!  
> I only like the Prentiss seasons, so anything Post-7 is nonexistent in this story. So sorry if that offends anyone!  
> Please review. Feedback definitely helps as most of you know!

The rain had been relentless for nearly three days. It blew across the streets of D.C horizontally due to the velocity of the winds that were coming off the East Coast. Schools had closed as well as most businesses. 

It seemed that Quantico was the only operational facility within ten miles. 

SSA Jennifer Jareau tried to keep her face passive as she entered the bullpen, crossing over towards her office. Storms didn't go over too well in her house. Henry, who had already reached the peak of his "clingy" stage, was also terrified of thunder. So not only was he sleeping between her and Will every night, but now there was a lot of screaming and crying involved with it. 

She adored her son with every fiber of her being, but she had never been so pleased to send him with the nanny. She would probably need to give Annie a raise for having to deal with a sleep deprived five year old two days in a row, but it was well worth it. 

Hoping to prolong the start of another wonderful day at the BAU, JJ took a detour over to the cluster of desks that housed most of her team. Only Reid and Morgan were present at that time, but that was no surprise considering that Emily Prentiss abhorred rain with every fiber of her being and would make a point of taking the longest amount of time possible to get to work. 

Nobody really knew who she was proving a point to, but they allowed her to vent regardless lest they wanted to face her wrath one on one. 

"I thought hurricane season ended last month." Morgan was pondering, staring out the windows. However, it was a useless endeavor what with the torrents of rain blocking his few. 

"Actually, this would be considered a Nor'Easter." Spencer offered his unsolicited correction. "Hurricanes move forward quickly, covering more land space; while Nor'Easters have much slower wind speeds allowing them to remain in one area from anywhere between three or four days. Economically, they're considered a higher threat due to the isolated damage." 

As usual, he saw a look of disinterest on his colleagues' faces rather than gratitude for imparting knowledge. With a tight smile, he quickly went back to fiddling with the neon Rubik's Cube Garcia had put on his desk the day before. It had given him something to do with his hands during their down time. 

"Baby Girl!" Derek hollered at Penelope when she whisked into bullpen. "Are you sure we don't have any urgent cases in Miami or Key West?" 

"Sorry my lovely, beautiful man. But it appears that the only action we'll be getting for the next few days is Hurricane Fuddy Duddy out there!" The blonde gestured towards the outside, shaking off her bright yellow raincoat. 

Though they all heard Reid mutter "Nor'Easter Fuddy Duddy" under his breath, they chose to ignore him. They weren't really in the mood for another meteorology lecture. 

"Well, as much as I'd love to stay out here with you fine people, I have a stack of paperwork on my desk that's about yay high." JJ gestured with her hand right around her waist. Though it was a slight exaggeration, it was still at least a day's worth of work. "If anything exciting happens, you know where to find...me..." 

She trailed off as she turned to move towards her office. A figure stood at the elevators, hobbling from one foot to another. At a glance, the woman looked to be just another soaking wet individual who was trying to warm up after escaping the storm. But after giving her a second glance, JJ noticed that red hair framing the stranger's face wasn't just hair. 

It was blood. 

"Hey." JJ nudged Morgan and nodded towards the woman who was still scanning the area frantically. 

Derek stood up immediately and strode over to the elevators with Reid and JJ on his heels. Penelope observed from afar, curious to see what had happened to the poor creature, but not curious enough to get involved. 

"Ma'am?" Derek kept his voice gentle as they approached. 

The woman was obviously distraught. There were tears on her cheeks that were only made evident by the active stream coming from her bloodshot eyes. She was wringing her hands in front of her, trying in vain to dry them with one another. She was pale and there were hues of purple all over her bare arms and blue in her trembling lips. 

"Ma'am," Derek repeated, holding out his arm but not touching her. "Are you alright?" 

Her eyes continued to scan the bell pen. It was obvious that what she was looking for was nowhere to be found because her shoulders sagged and she turned her desolate gaze towards the three agents. 

"Em...Emily Prentiss?" Her voice was soft but obviously hoarse. She sniffled and waved her hand around. "Is she still...Does Emily Prentiss still..." 

Noticing how hard it was for her to form a complete thought, let alone a sentence, Derek nodded and turned his hand so that it was palm up. "Yeah, Agent Prentiss works here." He told her with a gentle smile. "She's running a little late, but we can find somewhere warm for you to rest until she gets here." 

The woman's eyes flickered to his hand briefly before she tilted her head back towards the elevators. "I...I need to speak to...to Emily..." 

Her voice was so pained, so desperate, that JJ felt all the more inclined to help her. "She'll be here soon. The rain's just holding her up." She said quietly, moving around Morgan. "Are you okay?" 

The stranger's eyes softened at the sight of a fellow female. Though it was only fractionally, her posture relaxed. But she continued with her urgent request. "Emily..." 

Other agents in the bullpen began to approach. Not wanting the woman to startle any further, JJ gestured towards the desks they had just come from. "Why don't you wait for her at her desk?" She offered, touching the woman's cold arm. "I can get you something warm to drink while you wait for her." 

Just get her to relax. Was all of their first instincts. Then they can figure out what to do. 

A moment passed, and without so much as a nod, the woman followed after Morgan and JJ with only a little hesitation. Reid lagged behind, hoping to assess her demeanor from her stride. He was thrown off by her very obvious, but contained limp. He chose to bite back his questions regarding that particular injury. 

JJ her settle into Prentiss's chair while Garcia scurried off towards the break room to retrieve the promised hot beverage. Morgan had disappeared into Hotch's office to inform him of their visitor. 

The two men were now standing on the walkway, observing the terrified woman. 

"Did she give a a name?" Hotch asked quietly. 

"No. All she said was that she needed to speak to Prentiss." 

"She's not wearing a guest badge, so she somehow bypassed security." The Unit Chief said. "It appears that she's not a threat, but something is definitely off." 

"Should we call Prentiss?" Morgan asked. 

Before an answer could be issued, the elevator dinged and out stepped a frustrated Prentiss with an inside out umbrella. "Second one this week." She announced to no one in particular, tossing the offending object into the large trash can right inside the bullpen. "Remind me again why we don't have an open bar in this building?" 

Her exasperated smile was directed at JJ and Garcia, who were hovering by her desk. Her female teammates seemed a little on edge as she drew closer and she was just opening her mouth to call them out on it, when she saw the redhead sitting in her seat. 

One. Two. Three. Four seconds it took her. Four seconds to register who it was. After nearly a decade, her face was just as she remembered it. 

"Molly?" She gasped, dropping her bag and staring. 

Despite her earlier insistence, the woman shrunk back nervously, intertwining her fingers so tight that her knuckles were turning white. "H...Hi." 

Trying to swallow her shock, Emily turned to her teammates none of whom had moved from the positions they had been in when she came in. Realizing that they weren't going to be of very much help, she once again faced the blast from her past. 

"What are you doing here?" It was meant to come out as a simple question, but her naturally sharp voice made it sound more like a demand. Wincing, she tried to correct it, "I mean...Why...why...What are you doing here?" 

"I'm so sorry to bother you." It was the woman's first full sentence. She was still shaking, but after swallowing and taking a deep breath, she was able to compose herself. "It was...It's an emergency." 

"I can see that, what the hell happened?" Prentiss reached up to touch the cut on her head. "You're bleeding." 

"That's nothing." Molly touched Emily's hand to stop its advance. "I...I crashed my car." 

"You crashed your car?" 

"Right outside of Pennsylvania. I'm sure it's still there." 

"Was anyone else hurt?" 

"No. I hit a tree." Molly rubbed her aching head and her knees jiggled nervously. "Emily. I need your help. They took him!" 

Eyebrows furrowed in confusion, Emily looked to JJ who shrugged. 

"Who took who Molly?" She asked, stepping closer to the younger woman. 

"Flynn. They took Flynn." She let out a sob and covered her mouth, as though saying it aloud had been what finally broke the seal. 

Hearing this, Emily didn't need be filled in anymore. She let out a silent curse and quickly turned towards Hotch, her eyes pleading. Using his incredible gift of insight, her boss nodded and motioned for the team to follow him into the conference room. 

"Molly, come with me." Prentiss extended her hand. "We'll figure this out, okay?" 

Nodding, Molly stood up on shaky legs and grasped onto Emily's fingers. She couldn't speak, as the emotions continued to course through her. So she simply let the Agent lead her. 

/// 

She kept her head lowered, avoiding eye contact with the five strangers who she had joined at the table. Emily had left the room with the bespeckled blonde woman almost immediately after she'd led Molly to sit down. 

It had been nearly five minutes of painfully awkward silence. Occasionally one of the men would clear their throats while the kind woman from before sat on her left hand side, offering silent comfort. She appreciated that more than anything else. 

Emily came back in with the file that Garcia had helped her quickly gather up. She gave Molly a regretful look before setting the thick folder down on the table and sliding it to Hotch. 

"Missing child, ten years old." She said, shortly. "He's more than likely in the hands of some very dangerous people, so whatever we do, we have to act fast." 

"Your son?" JJ asked the shaken woman. 

Molly tapped her fingers against her lower lip, closing her eyes and ducking her head in way of a affirmative response. 

"When did you last see him?" Morgan asked. 

She spared him a small glance before biting her lip and looking to Emily. "Last Wednesday." She whispered, anticipating the response. 

"Last Wednesday, as in eight days ago?" Rossi leaned forward in his seat and rested his elbow on the table. Though his tone was far from harsh, his words cut through Molly's heart. 

"He wanted to go ice fishing." She stared at her hands, willing herself not to cry anymore. She hadn't had anything to eat or drink for days and she was on the precipice of dehydration. "There's a pond in the woods behind our house, I told him he could go but to be back in two hours. After eight hours, I knew something was wrong." 

Morgan's jaw hung open. He let out a small huff and did his very best not to upset the fragile woman any further. "Why...Why didn't you contact the authorities." 

"If I tried to call you, they would have known." Molly said across the table to Emily. "They would have tracked me down and killed me before I could even try to save Flynn. Then they could have gone after you." 

"Why not contact the local police?" Hotch asked evenly. 

"I am the local police." Molly told him. "We live in a small border town. Only a handful of Inuits and Bush people live there. I'm the only law enforcement for miles and I've never needed my gun." 

"You're a cop?" Morgan couldn't stop the skepticism. 

"She was the head of her class at the academy." Prentiss stopped that train before it left the station. Molly's son was missing and she was in a state just beyond shocked. Now was not the time to be judging a book by its cover. 

Finally, Rossi asked the question that had been plaguing most all of them. He hovered his hand out in front of him, halting any other comments that could have been made at that point, and turned to Prentiss. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but how do you two know each other?" 

Tried as they might have, not one of them recognized the woman, and yet she seemed quite close to their teammate of over eight years. 

Emily, who was hoping to deal with those questions at another time, lowered her head. She didn't want Molly to have to rehash a lot of old drama just so her colleagues could have a little backstory. But this was the Behavioral Analysis Unit. Their job was based on details and backstories. 

"Molly's my sister-in-law." She finally answered, cringing at the stunned silence that followed. 

"You’re married?" Reid asked after a beat. 

"What? No!" Emily stood up straight and gave the genius a disgusted glare. "She was married to my brother." 

"Was?" JJ arched and eyebrow. 

Before Emily could elaborate, Molly spoke up. "Nick died about...a while back." She also didn't want to divulge too much. 

Though she appreciated their sympathetic looks and noises, she couldn't stop her eyes from rolling. She looked to Prentiss who had tightened her lips and was rocking back and forth on her heals. 

Deciding to get back to the important matter at hand, Molly produced a picture from her purse and handed it to JJ to pass around. "That's the latest picture I have of Flynn." She sniffled, watching as the agents each took their turns staring at her son's angelic, freckled face. "It was taken six months ago, but he hasn't changed much since then." 

She looked hopefully at Emily who gave her a reassuring nod. 

"My brother started working in a pretty shady gambling ring right after he graduated college." The raven haired agent began to explain. "He and his associates eventually began to dabble in the art of contract killing when debts went unpaid." 

It was said so casually, that for a moment they felt like they were hearing about any other UNSUB. Not the late sibling of one of their agents. Judging by her flippant attitude, it became clear to everyone that she was at the very least, detached from the man her brother was. In any case, she didn't appear to be very bothered by drudging it all up. 

"Is that what got him killed?" Morgan asked. 

"No." Emily replied shortly before continuing, "These men harassed Molly daily after Nick died. They would call her everyday regarding the money that was owed to them. When she wouldn't answer the phone, they'd make housecalls." 

"It wasn't until they threatened to take Flynn as collateral that I got out of town." Molly told them. "We've been living in the Alaskan Tundra for eight years now. I thought it was over. But they found us. Found him." 

Despite her best efforts, she began to cry again. Her body and mind were exhausted, but she wouldn't stop until they found him. 

"Do you have any names?" Rossi asked after giving her a moment. He hoped she could hear him over her wheezing sobs. 

Molly took a tissue from the box that JJ had offered her and shook her head as she wiped her nose. "I don't know their individual names. They all had aliases. But they work for a larger operation called Red Card." She scoffed and gave Emily a look. "It was being passed off as a recreational conglomerate, but it was so obvious." 

"A large group of Russian men in the middle of Wyoming should have been clue number one." Prentiss said in ways of agreeance. "Nick wrote to our mother one time when he dug himself in too deep. He said something about his boss...Gumble...Gipple....?" 

"Gimbel was his last name I think." Molly recalled. "But he died the week after Nick." 

Realizing that left them with nothing, Hotch sat back in his chair and told Garcia to call and have them get the jet ready. 

"Where are they going?" Molly asked, looking to Emily with wide eyes. She didn't know what she expected to do when she got to Quantico, but she was at least hoping they'd give her a chance. 

"We're going to Alaska." Emily said, helping her stand up. "We're going to get him back Molly." 

Of course, she held the same doubt in her heart that she did when other children went missing. They say that the first 24 hours are the most detrimental-that the longer it went past that the more likely the child was dead. So what did eight days mean? What would have happened to Flynn after nearly 200 hours? 

It was obvious that Molly was thinking along those lines as well, so Prentiss decided to play it half cup full for this case. 

She would find her nephew. 

/// 

When he was little, he remembered his mom rescuing a small wolf cub from a trap in the woods. It was in the middle of a rough winter and the animal reserve was filled with injured animals, so they kept the puppy at their home for a couple of months. 

It was kept in a kennel in their kitchen with thick fleece blankets and a bowl that was always filled with water. 

The kennel he was in now was maybe a little smaller than the wolf cubs, but the water bowl was about the same size. There were no blankets though. Just a flattened cardboard box and a leaking sandbag. He was in a closet with no door and a blinking fluorescent light overhead. 

"Please. Please let me go." He whimpered, wrapping his fingers around the thin rusty bars. He had always tried to be tough, for his mom. But he was having trouble not crying after being trapped for so long. "I need to see my mom. She'll be so worried!" 

He could see the top of a man's head sitting in the next room-maybe the living room? It moved occasionally as he sipped from the can of beer, but it never looked away from the bright light of the television. 

"Please." Flynn cried again, pulling his knees to his chest and resting his chin on them. "Mommy...Mommy!" 

///


	2. Chapter 2

"The teeth of a tigress holding its cub tenderly are the same that ferociously devour its prey." -Dr. Anirudh Kapoor 

/// 

Molly sat in the back corner of the jet, biting her nails and staring out the window at the passing clouds. She couldn't even bare to listen to the game plan riddled with statistics and past case scenarios. It may have been a part of her job (prior to Alaska at least) but when it came to her own son, it was gut wrenching. 

"Tell me about him." The soft voice startled her but she was proud of herself for not physically reacting to it. 

The blonde woman from before, JJ, had seated herself across from her. She was giving her a compassionate smile that lacked pity. She must have been well trained for these kinds of situations. 

"He's um...He's perfect." Molly swallowed and ducked her head to examine her nails. She had been biting them constantly for the past week so they looked worse than Emily's when they were in the academy. "I know a lot of people probably say that about their children, but it's true. He's the perfect kid for me." 

JJ nodded, she would say the exact same thing about Henry. She prayed to God that she would never be in the same position as the woman before her. "Did he have any friends in the area? Someone he would have gone to visit maybe." 

Sniffling, Molly looked over the Agent's shoulder where Emily was sitting on the other side of the plane. She was pretending to read a book, but it was obvious that she was in no way invested in it. JJ had been sent to ask the questions that her sister-in-law couldn't due to their relationship. 

"No. Um. No friends." She answered, shaking her head. "It sounds kind of harsh, but I really didn't allow him out a lot. We'd go into town sometimes, and he'd hang out with the fishermen while I'd shop. But there was no one that he would go off with. He knew better." 

"Was there a reason he was so sheltered?" 

"I mean, I feel like the reason is kind of presenting itself." Molly let out a watery laugh, gesturing her surroundings. "He's been targeted ever since he was one. His father made him collateral while he was still in utero." 

JJ's eyebrows shot up. Emily's brother was shaping up to be a class act so far. No wonder nobody had known about his existence until now. 

"And you're sure it was those people? The ones from Red Card?" 

"Who else would take him?" Molly asked. "We live in the middle of nowhere. There are much easier places to take kids from. Whoever wanted to take him, really wanted him." She swallowed another sob that tried to wrangle its way from her throat. 

Reid leaned over the back of JJ's seat, folding and unfolding his fingers as he spoke. "In cases like these, it's odd that they would go back for collateral after such a long period of time." He informed them. "It could be that they are suddenly low on money and they know somehow that you have the funds that they need. There would be no other reason for them to go to this much trouble." 

"Do you have a large sum of money that they could have discovered?" Morgan asked. 

"I've always had money. But I never touch it." Molly wrinkled her nose in disgust and looked to Emily. "It never seemed right to spend it." 

When the team looked between the two women, Prentiss took it upon herself to explain. "My father had placed part of his estate in Molly's name after what happened with Nick. It never really sat well with my mother." 

"And I wouldn't pay off gambling debts just because I was being threatened." Molly insisted. She knew this group would understand the ethics of her occupation, but she continued. "I would give them everything I have now." 

"Have the money ready just in case." Hotch suggested. "But in the end, you shouldn't need it." 

"I don't know if it's even enough." The redhead shook her head. 

"How bad was it?" Emily didn't even want to ask. She had the same uneasy feeling in her gut that she received when she was waiting for her online banking to load after a drunken night at the bar. 

Molly sighed and rested her head back in her seat. "Last I checked, with interest it was over 2.5 million." She cringed when the team let out their respective noises of shock. "I don't think I have even an eighth of that." 

"Jesus Christ Nicholas." Prentiss muttered to herself, covering her mouth with her fingers and closing her eyes. "Molly, I'm so sorry." 

"Please don't apologize for him." The woman shook her head urgently. "He's already gotten off easy. You shouldn't be expected to take responsibility." 

Emily, still feeling the guilt build up in her chest, could only turn to her Chief for guidance. "The last time I saw these guys they were fleeing their headquarters in Wyoming." She told him. "They're virtually untraceable. Even with our resources, I doubt we'll find them in Alaska." 

"The best thing we can do is start where he was taken, and then we'll move from there." Hotch told her before turning to Molly. "It's normally against protocol to bring the mother of an abducted child along on our investigation, but you might be able to provide a unique insight to the crime scene. I just ask that you try to let my team do its job." 

Molly had no choice but to nod. She would have agreed to his terms no matter what, but his stern tone of voice and steely gaze would have prompted her to drink a gallon of soap if he ordered it. 

/// 

Eagle, Alaska 

Molly rode with Emily and Agents Hotchner and Reid to her house in the woods. 

The other Agents were going into the neighboring towns and communities to see if anyone had noticed something or someone out of the ordinary. 

"You weren't kidding when you said you were off the grid." Emily murmured, gaping at the never ending line of trees passing outside her window. 

Molly nodded and placed her hands between her thighs anxiously. She really didn't want to go back into that house. It was where she raised her baby. It was where he was potty trained and spoke his first words. His heights had been notched into the door frame outside of the kitchen. His blue toothbrush sat beside her red one on the bathroom counter and his flannel pajamas were still in the hamper. She hadn't dared to wash them yet. 

"You'll um...you'll turn left at the next fork." She cleared her throat, keeping her emotions in check. She couldn't make their jobs more difficult by weeping at every bump in the road. 

Hotch followed her directions and glanced at Prentiss in the rear view mirror. She hadn't comforted her sister-in-law once. He wasn't sure if that was because she was trying to maintain some semblance of professionalism or something else. She had been sympathetic towards Molly and she didn't appear to dislike her in any way. But their interactions seemed strained. 

"Have you asked the locals if they'd seen anything?" Emily asked nodding towards a group of Inuit’s who had been walking along the icy road. 

"If I thought they'd be any help I would have." Molly offered. "They accept our presence here, but nothing beyond that. I think the only reason they don't give us any trouble is because I provide some semblance of protection." 

"Given that he went missing near a body of water, they could have chalked his disappearance up to the Qallupilluk." Reid said from his place in the passenger's seat. At his Unit Chief's look, he elaborated. "It's kind of like the bogeyman for the Inuit people. It's a twisted creature that waits beneath the surface of the water to drag people under. It's mostly told as a folktale to children to keep them from wandering too close to thin ice, but many of the people still fear the legend." 

Even though he was speaking of a myth, the idea of her son being pulled into the frigid pond forced Molly to swallow a little bit of stomach acid that came up. 

/// 

Morgan pulled their SUV into a vacant lot and slammed it into park. "I still think we should have left her in D.C." He said to Rossi and JJ. "She's personally invested and could be a hindrance." 

"I doubt she'll be a hindrance at all." Rossi argued. "Sure it's against protocol, but if anything she'll be more of a help in this case." 

"How so?" 

"Look at where we are!" The Italian pointed to the empty streets surrounded by a couple of double-wides and a tent selling produce and fish. "We're as far from civilization as you can get. She'll be able to help us navigate the area." 

Morgan scoffed, "What makes you think they're even still here?" 

"They took Flynn for a reason." JJ said. "They'll keep close until they get whatever it is they want." 

Derek's phone rang as they approached the trailer with a poster board sign on the door. Liquor Mart it read in runny ink. 

"Whatchyou got for me Baby Girl?" Morgan answered it, motioning for JJ and Rossi to go into the store ahead of him. 

"For the first time in a long time, this brilliant beautiful creature is stumped." Garcia's voice rambled from the other end. "I have searched high and low through every database both legal and not so legal and I could only find one file on this so called Red Card." 

"I'm listening" 

"Well, from what I could tell, it was started in the early 1900's by immigrants from Russia, Ireland, and Italy. Three of the most charming and law abiding citizen groups if I do say so myself." The sounds of her nails clicking away on her keyboard could be heard clearly through his earpiece. "Up until the 1970's it was a gambling ring that was primarily lead by the descendants of the founders, but somewhere down the line things changed. 

Soon, they began to recruit thugs and ruffians from the streets to just handle their dirty work but after only a few years said thugs and ruffians were running the show. People were getting killed left and right and it became a full blown black market for weapons and drugs with just a dash of gambling on the side." 

"Do we know where they are now?" 

"That's where thing get tricky my mocha love. These guys are gone. Nowhere. They are 100% out of business according to my findings." She reported. "Either they closed down shop for good or they have been on their best behavior for the past couple of decades." 

"So what was Prentiss's brother involved in?" 

"Well, I looked into that." Penelope's voice quickened with excitement. "And let me tell you, Nicholas Garfield Prentiss was most definitely the black sheep of the family. He has a record full of drug busts, theft, assaults, you name it! But other than that, his file is locked away in a place where even my tactful fingers can't penetrate." Despite her frustration, she finished her sentence with a lustful purr eliciting a small chuckle from Morgan. 

"Alright, keep up the good work you!" 

"I'll keep you posted mi amour!" 

Derek hung up and sighed. There was a huge chunk of this story missing and he was going to figure out what it was. 

/// 

Spencer squatted down by the pond and tilted his head. "About how deep does it go?" He asked, glancing up at Molly. 

"About 5 feet I think. Flynn and I used a large branch to measure last summer." She explained with a brief smile. "I don't think there are even fish in there. But he always insists on trying. He just adores all of the fishermen in town." 

"How far back do these woods go?" Emily walked along the tree line, searching for tracks or anything that might guide them. 

"All the way back into Canada. The border patrol isn't very active over there, so it would be easy to go through undetected." 

"Do you think they could have crossed over?" Hotch grabbed the back of Reid's collar to keep him from toppling into the water, but kept his eyes on Molly. 

She shrugged and shook her head. "If I had the slightest idea of where they took him, I'd already have him back and they would be nothing but a pile of ash." She didn't what it sounded like, and it didn't look like it had fazed the stone-faced man. So she went on, "I do know that they had a house in Alberta at one time. I don't have an exact location, but I overheard Nick talking about it once." 

Emily let out a breath and pulled out her phone. "That's something at least." She said before speaking into the mouthpiece. "Garcia, the Red Card has a house somewhere in the Alberta Province of Canada." She bit her lip and listened as the Tech Analyst explained what she had so far. "Great! Let me know when you have something!" 

"She has a list of the original founders of the group. She's going to cross reference it with the real estate in Alberta." Prentiss explained to the others. 

"Do you think she'll find something?" Molly asked, rubbing her chilled hands together. 

"No one's safe from Garcia." Emily assured her with a tight smile. 

/// 

"Wake up! Come on!" 

Flynn groaned when he was yanked from his cage and forced to stand on his feet. It had been the first time he'd been free of his soiled confines for days so his legs refused to cooperate. The angry bearded man- Gus was it?-pulled on his arm until he was standing mostly upright. 

"We're going for a nice drive little man." Gus grinned and pulled the boy towards the front door.


	3. Chapter 3

They sat inside of Molly's living room until they heard more from Garcia. 

Reid drove out to the main road to flag down the rest of their team and lead them back to their isolated location while Hotch and Prentiss spoke to Molly about the Red Cards. 

"Is there anything about them that you can remember?" Emily was asking, as she brought a few cups of coffee into the living room. 

"Nick was so secretive about most of it. Anything I did hear, I had to turn the blind eye on." Molly pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to recall something...anything. "They were all horrible. I remember that. A couple of men stayed at our house one weekend when I was still pregnant. I was sick the whole time but they still insisted that I cook all of their meals." 

Prentiss winced and looked to Hotch who was staring at his shoes and taking in her words. He was silently building a profile. 

"One of them came to Nick's funeral. He um...he asked to hold Flynn." Molly's eyes lit up as she began to remember the stormy afternoon. "I told him no of course. And he got...really irritated. Said I was robbing him of...robbing him of his right or something." 

"Do you remember what he looked like?" Emily asked, sitting on the couch next to her. 

Molly squinted and bit her lip. "He was. He had an accent...Spanish or Italian maybe?" She had a terrible memory, but her brain was trying hard to assist her. "He was young too. Maybe a year or two younger than me." 

Hotch's head snapped up. "Do you think he's still alive?" 

"He certainly didn't die of old age." 

The front door suddenly swung open and the rest of the team shuffled in out of the cold. "Geezy-Pete, I'm starting to miss the rain!" Rossi was muttering shaking some freshly fallen snow off of his coat. 

"We got nothing downtown." Morgan announced, blowing warmth into his hands. "No one suspicious was seen go in or out of the road leading up here. Except for us of course." 

"There are so many ways they could have gone." Molly sunk her head and groaned. "We need to get out there. He must be terrified!" She climbed to her feet and started pacing. How were they going to find something by just sitting there? She had already wasted so much time by driving across the country in a state of panic. She should have just gone out there and tracked him down herself. 

Emily tried to grab her arm but she was moving too fast, so she settled for just using her words. "Molly, there's still a lot that we need to figure out." She reasoned. "It takes time to get the puzzle pieces together but once we do, we move fast." 

"I know. I know that." The redhead nibbled on her thumbnail. "But how are we suppose to recover puzzle pieces from nearly a decade ago? Half of those pieces were buried with Nick. How do we find those? Some kids don't get found Emily. What if Flynn is one of those kids? All because I can't put together a damn puzzle!" 

"There's only so much we can do if you're not telling us everything!" Derek snapped, slamming down the mug of coffee he'd just poured for himself. He held up his hand to ward off the protests from his team members. "Listen ma'am, I know that this is scary for you. But you've been guarded about a whole lot since you stepped off of the elevator at Quantico. That's all fine and dandy in the day-to-day life, but not when we're looking for your kid! When we're looking for your kid, you've got to be an open book!" 

"She's told you what's necessary Morgan." Prentiss tried to match his firm tone. 

"What about your brother Prentiss?" He turned on her. "We've known you eight years and not once have you mentioned having a brother." 

"Because I don't have one." She retorted. "He's dead." 

"Yeah, but how did he die? Don't tell me it's not important! He's the missing kid's father and he was supposedly killed by the same men who took him. Don't you think we need details?" 

"They didn't kill Nick." Molly argued, her eyebrows furrowed as she stopped her pacing. She glowered at Morgan and bared her teeth. "If you think for one second that I would do anything to slow down the search for my son then you've got another thing coming! The only reason I came to you people is because you had Emily. And I needed the only other person in the world who loved Flynn to be there to help me kill these assholes." 

Hotch shot Morgan a glare, pleading with him to keep his mouth shut before taking his turn to speak. "Molly, I think I can speak for everyone on my team and say that we know you want to do right by your son." He reassured her. "Our investigation is fueled by facts though. The more details the better. So if there's anything, anything at all, that you feel you should add, please spare nothing." 

She began to relax at his calm tone. Letting out a few heavy breaths through her nose, she glanced at Emily who sighed and nodded. 

"I um...I killed Nick." Molly said, bringing her nail back to her mouth. "It had to be done." 

"Self Defense." Emily supplied before accusations could be thrown. She hoped that if she backed up the other woman's actions, her team wouldn't attack her for killing their family's family. Because her brother wasn't family to her. He was a monster. "Nick crossed a line and Molly made sure that it wouldn't happen again." 

Hotch nodded at his agent, indicating that nothing more needed to be said on the matter. They weren't here to investigate the details of Nicholas Prentiss' death, just the chain reaction it may have caused. "Is there any possibility that you're being held accountable for his death?" He asked Molly. 

"No." She said with a firm shake of the head. "They're not that loyal to their own. All they care about is money." 

"All signs point to Red Card being some sort of a Mob organization." Reid spoke up. "If they have the same mentality as a typical Mob group then they see their members as family. In a way, they could see you as the woman who murdered their brother." 

"I'm not going to rule out your suggestions. But why would they wait this long to get back at me?" Molly asked, sitting on the arm of the couch. 

"They probably wanted to give you a false sense of security." Spencer continued. "They could have known where you were all along, but wanted to wait for you to let your guard down. You being surprised by the abduction will bring them more satisfaction than if they had done it when you expected it." 

"I've never let my guard down." 

"You let him go to the pond." Emily pointed out. "It's in the backyard, but you can't see it from the window. Would you have done that a couple of years ago?" 

Molly's silence gave them all the answer they needed. 

"Let's not rule out the fact that money is their main motive." JJ said, hoping to diffuse the tension in the air. Revenge abductions never ended well, and they all knew that. "Do you have your phone on in case they contact you?" 

"Yeah." Molly cleared her throat as she removed her phone from her coat pocket and confirmed that the sound was on. "They haven't called at all." 

As if on cue, Derek's cell chirped from his belt. He flipped it open and turned to face the back window of the kitchen. "Yeah Garcia?" 

"I would like the title on my business card to be changed to The Deity of All things Shrouded." 

"What do you have?" 

"Well Sugar Lips, not only was I able to recover a super list of every descendant of the original Red Card members, but I also tracked down addresses, arrest records, shoe sizes, you name it!" She announced haughtily. "Before you say it, the list is on its way to your phones as we speak. But ALSO, I am sending you one record in particular of one Mr. Remi Gusev whose father purchased a cabin in Sedgewick, Alberta back in the early nineties." 

"Great work Baby Girl!" Derek hung up and turned to relay the information to his team. 

/// 

Flynn didn’t like much about these men. The worst part was their smell. One of them had the foul stench of beets and olives wafting through even his thickest coat and the second just smelt like garbage. 

He knew if he commented on it or attempted to cover his nose that he would be punished so he just held his breath for the entire ride wedged between them in the cab of the truck. They'd been driving for nearly an hour now, so he was getting a little light headed. 

"When can I see my mom?" He finally asked after an eternity of silence. "I miss her." 

"We're on our way now boy." The one with the heavier accent told him. "Sit quietly and we'll even let you talk to her before we kill her." 

Swallowing, Flynn stared up at the driver with wide eyes. Kill her? He reacted silently. He didn't want to show them how terrified he was. 

/// 

Sedgewick was 12 hours away by car but the jet got them to the small airstrip of an outer Alberta town in a fraction of the time. 

JJ had called ahead to get their team vehicles, but all that could be provided was a large van that reeked of diesel. But as cramped as it was, it got them to where they needed to go. 

"This case certainly involves a lot of secluded locations." Rossi commented, observing the dense forest surrounding them as they drove. 

"Should be coming up soon." Derek was muttering to Hotch, not taking his eyes off of the GPS on his phone. 

Molly scanned the passing landscape searching frantically as though Flynn's bright blue coat would appear from between the trees. If only it were that simple. Slumping her shoulders, she turned to Emily and took a deep breath. "We'll find him." It was a statement. One she repeated in her head from the time she realized he was gone until now. Saying it out loud almost helped. "We will find him." 

"Yep." Emily gave her a soft smile. "We'll find him." 

/// 

He had been sitting on the cold rock for so long that his rear end was getting numb. The men had tied his wrists together and connected them to his equally bound ankles. It was an uncomfortable position, but he kept his mouth shut. Anything was better than the smelly truck. 

The taller man, the one who was easier to understand, was leaning against a tree lighting his third cigarette that hour while the small fat one was sleeping in a patch of grass near the trail. 

"I have to go to the bathroom." Flynn appealed to the smoker. 

"Piss in your pants." He replied, not even bothering to look his way. 

/// 

The house was dilapidated and clearly condemned, but they swarmed it regardless. 

Molly stayed by the van with JJ, watching as the team drew their guns and entered the ancient cabin. "They're not here." She sighed, rubbing her eyes. "I knew this was too easy." 

JJ wished she had a response for her. But in all actuality, she had been thinking the same thing. These guys were harder to track down then the toughest mob groups, why would they rent a house under their actual name? Even the most dimwitted criminals knew how to use aliases. 

Ten minutes passed before Hotch led the team out shaking his head and confirming Molly's prediction. "It's obvious that there's been activity in there recently." He knew to assure them as he approached. "The electricity is working and there's fresh food in the fridge." 

"They could come back." Morgan said. "We can lay low and watch from the tree line." 

"Hotch!" Emily's voice came from behind the house. 

Molly followed the team as they ran in her direction. Something in her sister-in-law's voice propelled her to move. 

"Tire tracks." Prentiss was crouched in the snow beside a shed no more than twenty feet from the house. "They're headed in that direction." She stood and pointed towards the wooded mountainside in the distance. 

"There was a fresh snowfall last night." Reid said. "These had to have been made today otherwise they'd be covered." 

"Rossi, you and Reid hang back. Call us if you see anyone come back here." Hotch ordered the two men and nodded towards the van. "The rest of you come with me." 

/// 

The ropes were tied too tight. His wrists were burning and his ears were cold. He refused soil himself. His mom would have been furious. He only had a couple of pairs of jeans that still fit. 

"Please stop growing Flynny." She would plead as she slid his sweater over his head. He never needed help getting dressed, but he knew she enjoyed it. She wanted him to be a baby forever. "You're going to be taller than mommy soon." 

He sniffled as he thought of her melodic voice. She did everything she could to keep him from getting lonely. He knew their life wasn't normal, but she made it bearable. 

"I miss her." Despite his best efforts, he stuck out his lower lip and tried to wipe the tears from his cheek with his shoulder. 

/// 

Hotch drove slowly and carefully up the mountain. The tracks could be seen clearly just ahead of them. Gray clouds loomed overhead, indicating that another snowstorm was on its way. They had maybe an hour left before they risked losing their lead. 

"They veer off that way!" Morgan pointed out, practically standing up in his seat. He threw his door open and darted out before the van came to a complete stop. "There's a truck behind the brush." 

He hurried over to the Old Blue Dodge, gun poised in case it was still occupied. When he saw that the cab was empty, he yanked open the driver's door and rooted around inside. 

Molly clung to Emily's arm, waiting for him to report what he saw. She let out a painful gasp when he produced a red scarf-the first one she had ever knitted-and waved it in the air. "That's his...it's Fl-Flynn's!" She choked, turning to Emily. "He's here! He's here!" 

Knowing that she was in 'go mode', Prentiss grabbed her wrist and held tight. "We need to find out which way they went." 

"Over here!" JJ called from the path above them. "I see two sets of tracks. Both large, definitely male." 

"They're probably carrying the boy." Morgan stated the obvious, pushing his way ahead so that it was him and Hotch leading the group. He didn't think that they were better suited in the event of a confrontation. But he knew that at least two of the women behind them were impartial. They couldn't risk emotions running high, despite Emily's calm demeanor. 

/// 

Reid was sitting on a fallen log at the very edge of the woods, watching the house for any sign of life. He and Rossi had stated at least five times that it would have been a whole lot better if they had been doing their surveillance from comfort of a warm van, but he didn't sign onto this job for luxury. 

"Remind me to never move to Canada." Dave grumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets. 

"There are actually a lot of advantages to living up here." Spencer craned his neck to speak to the frustrated Italian pacing behind him. "Health care is much cheaper as well as education. Plus their crime rates are lower." 

"Well that sounds perfect for a Criminal Profiler." Rossi quipped. 

They were interrupted by Reid's phone. He checked the ID before answering, "Hey Garcia." 

"Why isn't Morgan answering his phone?" 

"He's going up the mountain. Our Unsub left tracks leading up there." Spencer told her. "His cell reception could be bad." 

"I found something." She didn't seem all that interested in anything beyond the safety of Morgan. "Gusev was just released from prison last month. He was locked up in 2004 right after Nicholas Prentiss' death. According to his cellmates at Wyoming State Penitentiary, he had a huge axe to grind with the, and I quote, 'Redheaded Bitch who killed his Boy Nicky'." 

"We figured they would hold his death against her." Spencer glanced to Rossi as he put his phone on speaker. "Apparently she was the one who killed him. It was out of self-defense though." 

"Well his buddies don't see it that way. They worshiped the guy." She sounded frantic, her eyes scanning the prison reports in front of her. "He was adamant about leveling the playing field." 

"Leveling the playing field?" Rossi repeated, squinting his eyes in deep thought. 

"The boy." Penelope elaborated. "They're going to kill him." 

///


	4. Chapter 4

Their legs were sore and a few of them had twisted their ankles and scraped their hands on the loose rocks in the path. Their shoes weren't really meant for climbing, so this snowy incline was proving to be quite the challenge. 

Molly was far ahead of them, having spent the last decade living at the base of the Alaskan Tundra. Emily had to call out to her multiple times, requesting that she wait for them. She was unarmed and ready to charge the men who were holding her son hostage. She should not have been the one to lead the troops. 

"Do you still see the tracks?" Morgan called out. His main priority was making sure that they were going in the right direction. He wanted to trust that the terrified mother would use common sense when the time came for them to confront the kidnappers. 

"Two sets...two sets..." Molly was muttering under her breath. "One set deeper...carrying Flynn...carrying..." 

/// 

They knew that running was useless. There was no way that they would catch up in time, but they had to try. 

"It's not in the profile!" Spencer called back to the older man, stumbling over a fallen tree. "They can't kill him. It's not what they want." 

"There isn't a profile kid." As much as he hated to admit it, Rossi was not in the shape to be doing this. He started wheezing less than three minutes into their frantic trek. "We don't know anything about these guys." 

He wasn't trying to be a defeatist by any means. But it wouldn't do them any good to even pretend they knew what the outcome would be. Even when they had complete workups on their Unsubs, they had to prepare for the worst case scenario. Otherwise their job would be far more painful than it already was. 

Reid wasn't listening though. He wouldn't let this happen. They had tracked this kid down with absolutely nothing to go on. Sure they had worked with far less before this, but this was an abduction. If there was any chance this boy was alive with dangerous criminals after this long, then they would make sure it stayed that way. 

/// 

Molly stopped suddenly, grabbing onto a low hanging branch for balance. She let out a few heavy breaths, visible in the cold air, and turned to Emily. 

"I heard something." She whispered, letting her feet slide back a little. Hesitation flooded her as she realized just how unprepared she was. "Emmy..." 

She didn't need to say any more than that. Prentiss nodded and maneuvered around her mindful of the ice. Voices from the ridge above alerted the group. Deep voices. 

"Get behind JJ." Hotch whispered, edging up next to Emily with Morgan flanking from the other side. "Prentiss, if you see the boy get to him. We'll draw fire from the unsubs." 

Molly swallowed and looked to JJ who was now blocking her path. "Will they kill them?" She wasn't scared, she was hopeful. She wanted these men dead. She needed them dead. "I can help. I'm a pretty good shot." 

"No, you just worry about getting your son to safety." JJ kept one eye on the agents ahead. They were slowly and quietly climbing the last few feet of the steep incline. Even Morgan was managing to remain light footed and somewhat nimble. 

/// 

At some point, Reid lost Rossi. He had probably stopped to rest somewhere near the last brow. But Spencer wasn't feeling the exhaustion that would inevitably catch up with him the next day. 

The tire tracks of the van were clear in the mud. He just needed to follow those. 

"Not much further." He told himself. 

/// 

Two men. 

One stood in the grass no more than four feet away from where the agents were crouched. The second was pacing in front of a small rock formation. Behind him, a little boy with a mop of strawberry blonde curls and a dirty face sat bound and terrified. 

"Flynn." Molly choked. 

JJ reached back and held the woman in place, keeping her from doing what she would have done had it been Henry sitting on that rock. 

"Molly Prentiss! Welcome!" The man near Flynn had a heavy accent and a rifle that looked like it had come straight from the Cold War. "Please, don't hide." 

They all froze. 

Hotchner glanced back at his team before letting his eyes drift over to Molly. Her eyes were wide but she looked more than ready to go to the men, if it meant saving her boy. He shook his head sternly. 

"We're here for Flynn." The Unit Chief stepped up onto the cairn, gun raised. "Let him go and we can work something out." 

"There is nothing to be worked out with you, Agent Hotchner." The portly man nearer them chuckled, taking a puff from his stub of a cigar. "We didn't take your son. We took hers." 

Hotch didn't show the surprise and terror that clenched his gut. How did they know his name? And more importantly, how did they know he had a son? Lucky guess? "Put your gun away, and she'll talk to you. She doesn't want to see a weapon near her son." 

"She's seen far worse I can assure you." The man held the rifle higher as though posing for a picture. "We won't shoot. Just let us see our old friend." 

"Please." Molly moved around JJ and Morgan and tugged on Emily's sleeve."Maybe I can reason with them." She knew what a long shot it would be. But she had a better chance than they did. As they said, it was her they were targeting. Her and her son. 

Without waiting for their approval, she pushed past Prentiss and Hotch and stepped towards the men. Flynn sat up at the sight of her, his eyes lighting up. He mouthed 'Mom' and gave a side glance to the man in front of him. 

"Hey buddy." Molly gave him a gentle smile before turning to study the man holding him hostage. "Remi, is it? Remi Gusev?" She asked "I knew your brother." 

"You married my brother." 

"No...I married her brother." She gestured Prentiss who had yet to take her eyes off of Flynn. "I married Nick. Phillip was a friend of mine though." He had only been a couple of years older than her, and despite being Alfred Gusev's grandson, he was always kind. 

"Phillip was trash. Nicholas, he was my family!" His voice raised at the end. "And you shot him dead!" 

Molly didn't flinch. She held her hand up slightly, so that Flynn would remain calm. She knew her son was pretty level-headed, but she had to do something to make him realize that she was there for him. "Remi." She breathed. "I know that was wrong of me. I shouldn't have killed him. But I did. I killed him. Not Flynn. Let him go and you can punish me." 

"Your blood means nothing." The fat man growled with a slimy smirk. She could smell his foul stench wafting downwind. 

She reiterated, desperately. "He's my son. His blood is my blood. What difference does it make?" 

"He has his father's blood." Remi pointed out, ruffling the boy's hair. "Nicholas Prentiss' blood is far more valuable." 

"Why are you so obsessed with him?" Molly demanded, eyes narrowed. "He was a horrible human being. I saw how he treated you all. He was a monster-" 

"He was a good man." Remi argued, his voice even again. "You were too dumb to see that!" 

"You're right! I'm dumb." She hadn't meant to upset him again. "I'm a stupid, stupid woman. But Flynn was only a baby. He wouldn't have wanted his father to die. He would have adored Nicholas!" 

"Yes." He smiled and nodded slowly. "He would have worshiped his papa." He cupped his hand over the boy's shoulder and shook him lightly. 

Molly cringed at the thought but didn't verbalize her distaste. Let this moron live in ignorance. "He's a good boy." She stepped a fraction of an inch closer. "He has nothing to do with this." 

Emily wanted to reach out and stop her, but Aaron held her in place. It was obvious that the men weren't willing to attack Molly. "Do you have a clear shot?" He asked his agents quietly. 

"I can try." Morgan edged up on a bolder he had been standing at the base of. No one was paying attention to them, so he could try to get a clear shot of him. The wind would make the trajection a little unstable though. 

Remi let go of Flynn and took a small step back. "He's a good boy. He should hate you for what you did." He scowled at Molly and nudged the little boy with the toe of his boot. "Do you boy? Do you hate your mama?" 

Please. Molly tried to tell her son telepathically. You hate me. Just say you hate me. I'll understand. You hate me. You have to hate me. 

Her heart seized when Flynn shook his head and sniffled. "I love my mom." He said over his shoulder before looking back at her, "I love you." He shrugged defeated. 

"It's okay boy." Remi's face softened, and he lowered his gun from the child's head. "You have to love your mama. It's a flaw in little boys." 

For a moment, it looked as though he were backing away. And that's because he was. But as he reached the edge of the cliff, he fired. 

One shot. 

Then he stepped backwards. 

Time stood still. Molly watched, her feet stuck in the melting snow, as a hole tore through her son's chest. 

She may have screamed. Her mouth was open and her lungs burned, but she heard nothing. 

All she could focus on was Flynn's eyes. His beautiful hazel eyes. Wide and scared. 

Hotch shot the fat man in the head as soon as he moved to follow his partner. 

Morgan charged towards the edge of the cliff to see if he could get a visual on Remi. But the ledge about thirty feet down was empty. He had been ready to run. 

JJ moved forward to see if she could help Flynn, but her legs were slow and shaking. She wasn't quite grasping what had just happened. 

Emily just collapsed. She felt herself land on the hard rocks she had just been standing on, but it didn't register. 

She could only watch as Molly also fell to the ground and crawled towards her little boy. Crying out to him as his mouth opened in closed, desperately trying to breathe around the blood filling his throat. 

"Baby...Baby..." The woman whispered, pulling the boy towards her and struggling with the ropes. "It's okay. I'm here. Mommy's here." 

Derek could see her fingers struggling to find their purchase on the bindings and pulled his knife out of his pocket. He knelt down next to them and unfolded the blade. "I got it. Hold on." He said gently, grateful that Molly moved her hands to allow him to work. 

Hotch could be heard behind them, screaming into his phone repeatedly for paramedics. Did they even know where they were? Morgan wondered. Would they find them in time? 

He obviously kept his concerns to himself. The devastated woman who was now pulling her son into her lap didn't need to know just how far away from help they were. 

"Flynn, Sweetheart." Molly wiped the blood away from the corner of his mouth and kissed his cheek. "Look at me sweetie. Look at me." 

He obeyed her, moving his dazed eyes away from the sky and towards her face. He smiled and reached up to poke the space between her eyes. "Missed you." He wheezed the sentence and coughed. 

"Oh, I missed you too." She bit back tears. He didn't need to see her cry right now. 

"I'm kind of cold." Flynn winced. His face was getting paler by the second and his lips were practically purple. 

Morgan took off his coat and covered the boy. He could feel the blood from the chest wound soak through the thick leather in a matter of seconds. That's when he knew the paramedics wouldn't get there in time. 

Molly knew too. It was clear in the way she peacefully rocked the child and kissed the top of his head. She didn't act like there was a life to save, because it wasn't theirs to save anymore. She didn't want his last memories to be her screaming over him and pressing on the wound. 

"I love you. I love you." She murmured into his hairline over and over again. When his body began to grow limp, she leaned back and smiled gently. "My brave boy. I love you so much." 

He tried to respond, but he was fading fast. Instead, he let out a breath and went back to staring at the dark clouds overhead. 

The team watched her whisper and hold him until he was gone. 

And once his eyes couldn't see her, she let wailing commence.


	5. Chapter 5

Snow had begun falling. 

He jumped out of the way when he heard the wail of a siren come up behind him. An ambulance. Red and white lights flashed against the trees and the screaming melody cut through the air like a knife. 

It could be for the Unsub. They probably shot the Unsub. 

Spencer took a deep breath and rested his hands on his knees. He had a horrible feeling in his gut. One that was all too familiar to him by now. 

/// 

JJ sat beside Molly, one hand resting on the sobbing woman's back and the other clutching the deceased boy's shin. As though she could act as some sort of jumper cable to bring him back to life. 

"His hair's so dirty." Molly ran her fingers through the matted curls. Her body shuddered and she forced back another round of tears. She wasn't afraid to show weakness, she just feared that if she cried anymore she'd pass out. And she had to be there to make sure Flynn was taken care of. 

Emily was still hanging back and watching her sister-in-law from her place near the tree line. She felt that it would be an intrusion if she tried to comfort her. For some reason, JJ seemed more equipped to do so now. 

"I never met him." Prentiss said, feeling a presence at her side. She turned to look at Hotch briefly and then went back to watching her nephew. "When I returned after JTF-12, I just dove back into work. I called her all the time, to make sure they were doing alright. After Nick's death she went off the grid. That's when I wanted to see her the most. See him. But it just...it wasn't for the best." 

Hotchner nodded. He still had tears resting on his bottom lids. A few fell when the boy was shot, but then he had to resume his role as team leader. "He needed to be protected." He assured her. "You soughting them out would have been too dangerous." 

"But maybe I should have." Emily rubbed her mouth and closed her eyes. "They still found them. They still took him and...and...Maybe if I had just tried. I could have protected them better." 

"She seemed to have it under control." He didn't want her to start beating herself up over this. 

Prentiss took a breath and nodded towards the trail. "I-I think I hear the sirens." She murmured. "I'll go wave them down." 

Aaron watched her leave sadly. Pep talks would have to wait until later. His main priority was tracking down the man who just killed an innocent little boy. Right in front of the innocent mother. 

"I tried to look for tracks." Morgan breathed, stumbling over from the edge he had just climbed back up. "Nothing. The guy literally vanished out of thin air. But there is a road at the bottom. He could have had a car waiting for him." 

"I wouldn't doubt it." Hotch said. "Get Garcia on the phone and see if she can track down any other hideouts under Gusev's name." 

Derek nodded and began to search for a location where his cell could get service. 

It was quiet for a few minutes before another sob tore through Molly's throat, sending a chill up all of their spines. 

/// 

There was a body under the sheet on the stretcher, and from what Reid could tell, it was a small one. Blood was seeping through the white fabric, showing exactly where the fatal wound was. The genius swallowed, passing the ambulance with weak and stumbling legs. The paramedics were somber as they gently placed their load in the back of the vehicle. 

"Reid!" He jumped and turned to see Emily standing at the edge of the path. 

"Is...Is that...?" He trailed off when JJ came down the incline, her arm wrapped around Molly. There was his answer. The Unsub had gotten what he wanted. 

"The Constable says there's a house we can go to until the storm passes." Prentiss said tightly. When she heard the ambulance doors slam shut, she seemed to snap out of a trance and opened her mouth. "The killer got away. He um...he jumped and we lost him." 

"We'll find him." Spencer assured her, acknowledging Morgan and Hotchner with a small nod when they approached. "Was it Gusev?" 

"Yeah." Emily cleared her throat and hurried towards the SUV. She wanted to sit next to Molly on the way to the hospital at least. She needed as much comfort as she could get. 

Hotch hung back with the other two male agents. "Strauss just called, we might be losing jurisdiction soon." He warned, his voice low. "I'll do what I can to fight it, but in the meantime, we need to cover as much ground as possible." 

"Looks like we're stuck for tonight at least." Morgan gestured the rapidly falling snow. "Garcia's digging up as much as she can, so when we're ready to move we'll know where we're moving to." 

/// 

The house was only a few miles away from the mountain they had just climbed. From a few of the windows, they could see the white caps and sharp peaks. They kept Molly away from those windows. 

Rossi, who they had picked up when they were halfway down the road, was making dinner with the very limited ingredients that were in the kitchen. "I hope everyone likes stir fry." He had said, pulling the canned goods and rice out of the pantry. "Dry, flavorless stir fry." 

JJ helped Molly with the mountain of forms they had collected from the coroner's office. Not only did they have to arrange transportation for Flynn's body, but they also had to fill out a report on his death and figure out where in the US they should send him. The fact that it was across the border made things a little more difficult. 

In the end, Molly just decided to have him cremated in Alberta. She couldn't stomach checking off details about the 'corpse' and how it should be positioned and cared for. 

Her son wasn't a corpse. 

He would never be a corpse. 

Snow had piled up fairly quickly outside. From what Reid could tell, it had accumulated maybe six or seven inches. "That's nothing compared to what they usually get." He told Rossi from his seat at the kitchen island. "In some parts of Alberta, they get over 90 inches of annual snowfall. It won't really pick up for another month or so." 

Though he was still spitting out fact after fact in typical Spencer Reid fashion, his tone was somber and his shoulders slumped. There was no way that any of them could have achieved a genuine smile. Not tonight. 

"I'm tired." Molly handed the last form to JJ and rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand. Blood still stained her fingers, but no one had the heart to suggest that she wash them. 

"Let's find you a room." Emily, took her arm and pulled her off of the couch so that she could lead her towards the staircase. 

Once she was out of earshot, Hotchner left his spot in the dining area and sat between Morgan and JJ. He rested his arms on his knees and stared at his folded hands as he spoke. "I called for some agents to come collect Molly in the morning." He told them. "She's just suffered a loss and she shouldn't have to take part in the rest of the investigation." 

"I agree it's a good idea, but I doubt she'll go easily." Derek said keeping his peripheral on the stairs to make sure the woman wasn't coming back down. "She's going to get past the grief and go straight to rage. She'll want to get these guys herself." 

"Right now my concern is staying on this case." Hotch let out a sigh. "If we can just keep to protocol from here on out, maybe Strauss will let us finish this. Bringing her along to catch the men who killed her son will raise so many red flags that we'd be lucky if we got another case in the next year. She needs to be somewhere safe." 

JJ kept silent. While she agreed with her Unit Chief, she still felt a pang in her heart for the fellow mother. She wasn't a civilian. She was a cop. The vindication of taking down that horrible man could really help her recover from her sudden loss. But putting her in danger would have brought forth an onslaught of ramifications. 

Morgan examined the crime scene photos that the officers had taken when they finally pried Molly away from Flynn. He had kept them hidden until she went upstairs, but now he couldn't look away. "How did he live as long as he did?" He questioned, dropping one of them into Hotch's lap. "The rifle pretty much obliterated his heart. He should have died immediately." 

"I'm not going to question why a little boy got to live enough to say goodbye to his mother." Rossi reasoned. Handing out the bowls he had balanced on a tray. "We may not have been able to save him from death, but at least Molly's was the last face he saw." 

/// 

Emily spread the quilt over the bed in the far corner of the room and made sure that the pillows were fluffed. It wasn't super cozy-the mattress couldn't have been less than a decade old-but after the day they'd had anything would work. 

She stood up straight and smiled sadly at the back of the redhead staring out the window. She had changed into a pair of extra sweats Reid brought. He was the only one who was ever more than prepared. 

"You can't do it, you know that right?" Prentiss said quietly, but loud enough for Molly to react. When she turned her head slightly, Emily continued, "I know you want to. But you understand why I won't let you." 

The redhead moved to sit on the windowsill and drummed her fingers against the aged wood. "You're good at your job." She sighed, staring at her feet. 

"You're better at yours." Emily countered. "So I need you to tell me that you'll let us take care of them. Please." 

Molly bit her lip and shook her head, but contradicted the action when she spoke, "I'm not going to do anything." She promised, her eyes raising to meet darker ones. "As long as someone takes care of...of him." 

They didn't make promises that they couldn't keep. It was something she had learned very early on. She wouldn't be held accountable for things that weren't in her control. But she needed this man taken down almost as much as Molly did. She wouldn't rest until she found him. 

"Of course." 

/// 

Somehow, everyone had fallen asleep at some point in the night. 

Reid and Morgan took the two couches in the main area, Rossi and Hotch slept in the twin beds in the small room off of the kitchen, and the women were upstairs. 

Her pillow was still damp from the tears she had shed into it the night before. Molly lifted her head from it and closed her eyes to ward off the painful memories. Her head was aching and her stomach was in knots; she couldn't cry anymore. She'd only make herself sick. 

The spot next to her on the queen sized bed was empty. Emily had bunked with her, more than likely to assure that she wouldn't run off in the night to exact revenge. Though, she was probably way too worn out to track down and kill a man. 

A glance at the old alarm clock on the dresser beside the bed told her that it was just after six in the morning. She was an early riser, but if she remembered correctly, Emily was not. She would go as far as to shower at night just so that she could sleep in longer the following morning. 

Molly swung her feet out of bed and stood up to stretch. She was grateful for the socks that Dr. Reid had so graciously loaned her, as she could feel the cold hardwood floor even through the thick wool. Giving her weary body a moment to adjust to its new position, Molly listened for noises downstairs. But it was quiet. 

It was when she took her first step away from the bed that she realized why the floor was so cold. It was wet. From where she was standing, leading up to the door there was a trail of water. 

Baffled, she squatted down to touch it and felt a shiver course through her immediately. Snow. It was melted snow. 

Not wasting another second, she darted out into the hallway and nearly slid when her feet connected with another puddle of water. The damp path went down the corridor, towards the stairs, and as she approached the top railing and peered over, she saw that it ended-or began-in the front foyer. 

"Agent Hotchner!" She shouted, descending the stairs two at a time. "Agent Morgan!" For all she knew, the men hadn't even stirred. But it didn't stop her from yanking the front door open and darting out into the thick snow. 

The sky was clear now, and the wind had stopped. The only evidence of the storm from the night before was the white blanket canvassing the fields that surrounded the house. 

Someone called out to her, but Molly continued to trudge through the waist deep powder. "Where's Emily?" She shouted back to them. "Where did she go?" 

Her question was met with silence, so she turned to face them. Agent Hotchner was standing with Rossi in the doorway, while Morgan was about three feet away from her, in nothing but sweatpants, shivering as he realized what he had just chased her out in. 

"She wasn't in bed." She elaborated, her voice shaking. "Someone came into our room from out here last night. Where. Is. She?" 

They wouldn't have known. How could they have? 

Hotch ran inside the house to confirm what the woman had said. Morgan reached out and grabbed onto her arm. 

"Get out of the snow." His voice was heavy with the sleep he had been startled out of. "Come on, we'll figure this out." 

Only because she knew she wouldn't accomplish anything searching through the snow in sweats and socks, Molly let him pull her back towards the house. 

/// 

Emily Prentiss had been taken. Somehow, she'd been abducted from her bed in the night without Molly being alerted. And she wasn't a heavy sleeper. Her career, combined with motherhood, had trained her to wake up to the slightest disturbance. 

So how did they take her? 

Derek called Garcia with the update, so she knew what was going on and also to hurry her up in her search. The terrified Tech Analyst swore that she'd find something before hanging up on him. 

"We're wasting time!" Hotchner muttered, placing his hands on his hips and starting across the vast field of white. There were no tracks to go by. The crime scene unit hadn't found any fingerprints in the girls' room. The abducters had left them absolutely nothing. 

Reid and JJ went back to Gusev house with the hopes that they wanted to be found there. They were all doubtful though. They were going to have to work for this. 

"Prentiss blood." Molly's voice startled Hotch. He turned to see the woman looking out at the mountain she had lost her boy on. "They want Prentiss blood. We need to...We need to contact Elizabeth." 

The Unit Chief had come to the same conclusion. This was all an elaborate revenge for Nicholas' death. They were going for the people that mattered to Molly as well as her husband. Let them be with him, not the woman who killed him. "Do you remember any other names? Locations?" He asked, his voice even. "Any little detail could help us." 

"I know. I know that." She rubbed her brow and winced. "I can give you their location in Wyoming. But it's probably been renovated more than once since they fled." 

Aaron nodded and pulled out his phone. It was a start at least. 

/// 

Warm steel was pressed into her cheek as she came to. It took two seconds for her to realize she was in the back of a large vehicle. It smelt strongly of diesel and the roar of an engine could be heard beneath her. 

Emily lifted her head and took in her surroundings. One man-the driver. Dead tree tops were the only thing visible through his window and windshield. 

Her hands were tied behind her back, but her feet were free. She wouldn't move yet though. It was better to remain still until she knew where they were taking her. 

/// 

"You can't be serious!" 

He heard Molly's voice before he even stepped through the front door. He started moving towards the house when the black SUV's pulled up. 

"I need to stay here! I'm not leaving!" The redhead was yelling at the agents. When Hotch came in, she turned her outrage on him. "I need to find Emmy!" 

"You'll be safer back at Quantico." Hotchner told her. "We don't know who their next target will be. We need to take every necessary precaution." He would leave out the part about them walking on eggshells with Strauss. She didn't need to know just how far out of jurisdiction they were. 

Molly shook her head and leveled him with a glare. "You need me here." She said. "They're doing this to get to me. If you take me out of the equation, they'll make it impossible to find her until I'm brought back in." 

"They won't know you're not with us." Morgan reasoned. 

"They know everything." 

"Molly, please." Aaron sighed. "We're doing this for your safety and Emily's. We'll keep you in the loop and accept any information you can provide." 

She growled and stormed towards the staircase to get what few personal belongings she had. It would be no use arguing with them. She would have to handle this on her own. 

/// 

"I got a lot more than I had expected from the address Molly gave us." Penelope was telling Morgan, the sounds of her computer beeping could be heard in the background. "What is now a shopping center in Sundance, Wyoming was once a block of warehouses all owned by an assortment of individuals. 

I ruled out two of the owners. They were using their spaces for storage space. But another two came up as Andrew Bixby and Peter Gaines. Aliases obviously. With some very skillful, and might I add, brilliant research, I was able to trace the names and socials down to two deceased men both from that area." 

"Stolen Identities?" Derek sighed, looking to Hotch who was watching the SUV pull away from the house with Molly safely inside. 

"Yes, but fret not my love, these guys were sloppy." Garcia assured him. "Both Bixby and Gaines were admitted into Crook County Memorial Hospital within a month of each other. Their deaths were innocent enough, no foul-play. But both of their bodies were checked out by one Phillip Gusev." 

"That's Remi's brother." 

"Exactly. So I pulled a record of all of the bodies that he examined during his time at Crook County and seventeen of those names came up when I did a search of property owners in North America. I of course narrowed that list down, taking out any properties that have since been sold. We're now down to three." 

"Great, send the-" 

"Locations are being sent to your tablets as we speak." 

"Thanks Baby Girl." 

He hung up and hurried to gather the team to figure out a game plan. 

/// 

An hour away from Alberta, she decided to make her move. They were nearly to the airport and she would lose her window if she waited too long. 

"Can you stop up here?" Molly sat up and leaned between the passenger and drivers' seats. She pointed at the somewhat shady gas station coming up on the right. "I have to go to the bathroom, plus it would be nice to have some sort of a snack for the flight." 

The driver grunted and nodded. She smiled and leaned back, waiting patiently for him to pull the SUV into the bumpy parking lot and stop. She chuckled when she was able to open her door. Really? No child lock? She thought. Rookie mistake. 

She wouldn't take advantage of that though. She'd give them a chance. 

One man waited by the car. To ensure that no one suspicious would come in behind them. 

Molly stayed by the second agent's side. She even finished up in the bathroom quickly and hurried to find a snack. Sunflower seeds and a bottle of water. He made a teasing comment about her making a mess on the plane with the shells to which she replied that she'd spit them in the barf bag. 

It was when they stepped outside that she made her move. She reached out to grab his wrist, pressing down on the bones, with her other hand she pressed on the spot just below his elbow, just before striking out with the first one to hit the pressure point underneath his ear. 

He slid to the ground without a sound. She had acted so quickly that he didn't even have a chance to react. 

The other agent hadn't stepped out of the car, so he hadn't seen her. Nor had the cashier and other patrons inside. She made sure the unconscious man was leaning against the wall comfortably before taking off.


	6. Chapter 6

From what could be heard on their end, Hotch was not too thrilled about the phone call he had just ended. 

They had just dropped Morgan off in Montana where the first property was said to be located. He would meet the police captain in St. Ignatius, and have some men join him on his investigation. Rossi and Reid would be going to the warehouse in Warren, Pennsylvania while the Unit Chief would join JJ in Apex, North Carolina. 

They were going to land the jet in Quantico and take separate vehicles to their locations. They were going to need to remain as inconspicuous as possible. 

"What was that about?" JJ asked wincing when his cell phone was slammed down onto the table between them. 

"The protective detail lost Molly." Hotchner fumed, glaring out his window. 

"They go her?" Reid's eyes widened at the prospect. It was out of character for them to go after Molly, considering they were only targeting the Prentiss bloodline. 

"No, she escaped." Hotch corrected. "She knocked one out and got away before the other could notice. She left her cell phone in the car and she didn't leave a trail that they can find." 

"She's determined I'll give her that." Rossi admitted, ignoring the glare from Aaron. 

/// 

It was a plane she woke up in this time. She must have been given something to knock her out, because she wouldn't have slept through being transferred from the van. 

The plane was loud so it was most likely rather old. There was rust on the floor beneath her and she could almost taste the gasoline as the fumes wafted through her airways. She bit back a gag and squinted up to see a man seated on the bench right above her. His head was ducked and his snores were audible over the roaring engine. 

Emily groaned and rolled over onto her side. She couldn't wait to kill these guys. 

/// 

Strauss met them at the airstrip, much to all of their dismay. 

Her face was red and she yelled at Hotch from the bottom of the stairs all the way to the black SUV waiting for him and JJ. She ranted about their irresponsibility, lack of protocol, and recklessness. Things he had all heard before. 

He simply nodded and wrenched open the driver's side door. "I promise you ma'am, we will take full responsibility upon our return." He said. "But right now we have a missing agent to track down." 

"And what about Molly Prentiss?" Strauss demanded. "How do you plan on locating her?" 

"It's more than likely that Molly will be where Agent Prentiss is." JJ told the Section Chief. "She has the same goal as we do only, she might not be thinking as clearly." 

"Yes, I know, her son was just murdered." She just had to rub salt in the wound. 

"All the more reason to find these guys." Hotch snapped, slamming his door and driving off without sparing her another glance. 

/// 

St. Ignatius, Montana 

They searched the property high and low. K9 units had joined them after the first hour, but in the end, nothing came up. 

A house covered in weeds and mold sat near the back of the five square acres but beyond that there wasn't much else. Some abandoned cars here and there and a small pond filled with mostly garbage, but no Emily and no Red Cards. 

Morgan shook the police sergeant's hand before heading back to his SUV and taking out his cell. "Hey Hotch." He said into the mouthpiece as he leaned back against the door. "Nothing over here. Just a shack filled with trash. Sergeant Helms says that they haven't had any criminal activities out here in decades...Okay...See you there." 

He hung up and threw his head back with a sigh at the thought of finding an airport in these parts. It had been a while since he'd flown coach. 

/// 

Minnesota-Canadian Border 

The last time she'd stolen a plane of this size was early 2000 and she was a little surprised that post-9/11 traffic control was as lax as it was. No one on the airfield had even noticed her taxiing. She checked her watch and let out a breath. 

"You got it. You got it." She told herself, swallowing. 

Eighteen hours since Flynn died. 

/// 

Apex, North Carolina 

JJ kept quiet during the three hour drive. Hotch was tense and agitated and she was simply terrified. 

Emily was her closest friend and the fact that she was in danger, again, had her stomach in knots. She didn't deserve this. Not after all she had been through in the last couple of years. And on top of being kidnapped, her nephew was dead and her sister-in-law was AWOL. 

It was five minutes after they were ushered into the back room of the police department when she finally spoke. Watching her boss pace back and forth with an urgency she had so rarely seen from him was too much to bear. 

"How long?" She asked, clearing her throat before continuing. He hadn’t stopped moving so her question must not have registered. "How long have you two been together?" 

That gave him pause. He turned towards her and summoned up the most incredulous face he could muster. It did absolutely nothing. 

"I might be new to the profiling game, but I'm still a human being with eyes." JJ said with a smirk. Despite the fear that had been instilled in her since early that morning, the look on the man's face was almost comical. "You're not just acting like a man searching for a missing agent. You're acting like a man searching for a missing loved one. I've seen the difference." 

Hotch readied an argument-one that he and Emily had practiced in the event that their highly perceptive co-workers became suspicious. But he was too drained to follow through. What was the use in lying? 

He leaned forward and pressed his fingertips against the red oak table top. 

I'm sorry Emily. He thought before speaking. 

"After...after Paris." He sighed, looking up at her with a steely gaze. Silently pleading with her to let it rest for now. They could get into specifics when they found her. 

Luckily, JJ had gotten the hang of reading his mechanical gestures over the years. She simply set her jaw and nodded. She would have whooped for joy had they not been in the process of trying to find the woman in question. 

The harsh shrill of Hotch's phone cut through the silence. 

"Dave, you're on speaker." He put the device on the table between them. 

"We went straight to the address in Pennsylvania. There's nothing there." The Italian's voice came out crackly. "Just forest and overgrown fields. Reid called the K9 unit, they should be here soon. Doesn't look good though." 

"Thanks, keep us posted." Hotch grimaced as he hung up. "This could be our last shot." He said pointing at the police chief headed their way. 

/// 

She had landed in a field a couple of miles from the Vermont Border. It would be better to walk back into the US-there was no secrecy when it came to planes. 

Molly blew on her hands to warm them up as she studied the map in her lap. She would wait until she had a concrete plan before leaving the cockpit. Time was running low, but if she didn't have strategy, there was no point in acting. 

Maybe they'll get there before me. She thought, praying that she had underestimated the BAU agents. Maybe they'll save her and I'm just wasting my time. 

Something suddenly clicked in her mind. It wasn't so much a memory as it was a realization-a startling one at that. 

She knew something had led her to this location. She knew it wasn't just instinct. 

Throwing open the rusty plane door, Molly grabbed her backpack and hopped to the ground. 

I know where they are. I know where they are. 

Twenty-two hours since Flynn died. 

/// 

Boats. 

The warehouse was full of boats. 

Smack dab in the middle of North Carolina, hundreds of miles from the ocean, and they found themselves standing in a large room packed with yachts and speedboats. 

Hotch cursed after sweeping through the building for a third time. 

Why did he expect this to be so easy? When was it ever this easy? 

Chief Gray muttered some sort of apology as he rounded his men up. The entire area was clear. Emily wasn't there and neither was Gusev. 

"I'll have Garcia recheck the list." JJ said, pulling her phone out of her coat pocket. She paused when it began to vibrate in her hand before she could dial. It was a number she didn't recognize. Cautiously, she held it up to her ear. "Hello?" 

"Where are you?" The voice was frantic. But familiar. 

"Molly?" JJ looked to Hotch who looked up from the boat he had been looking under. "Molly where are you?" 

"I'm on my way to get Emily! I need to know that you're close." 

"We don't know where she is." 

"She's in Derby Line, Vermont. Where are you?" 

"How do you know that?" 

It was quiet for a moment on the other end. Then a sigh came through. "Please tell me you're not really in North Carolina." 

JJ's jaw dropped. She put the phone on speaker and motioned for Hotch to get over there. He was already halfway across the room though. He looked as though he were ready to jump through the phone to get answers from the woman. 

"Molly, are you in Vermont?" 

"I'm almost there. It's a small town." She sounded breathless. As though she were walking briskly. "He's keeping her in his house. Gusev's ex-wife lives there." 

"How do you-" 

"Are you going to question me or are you going to get up here on your fancy jet?" She snapped. "They won't kill her until I get there. So you need to beat me here! The house is under the name Valerie Mims. Now hurry up!" 

Hotch growled when the line disconnected. He made sure JJ was calling Garcia before leading the way back over to the SUV. 

/// 

Morgan got the call just before boarding a plane in Montana. He was able to hop off in time to trek across the airport and catch a plane to New Jersey in time for takeoff. 

Rossi drove back from Pennsylvania-he had a lead foot and could make it back to DC in half the time. The same went for Hotch. What had been a five hour trip to North Carolina became a three hour trip home. 

He and JJ got to the plane before the other agents, so they had time to sit down and look at the coordinates Garcia had sent to them. 

"It's not a very big house." JJ murmured, zooming in on her tablet to examine the aerial. "Do you think his ex knows she's there?" 

Hotch had his knuckle pressed to his mouth as he grunted. "That's to say she's actually there." 

"You think Molly's lying?" 

"I don't think she's seeing things very clearly right now." He reasoned, looking up at her. "She knocked out an FBI agent and supposedly got across Canada in less than twelve hours. She could very well be holed up in her cabin back in Alaska." 

JJ shrugged. "Either way, she could be onto something." She turned the tablet to show him the small tin roof in the satellite image. "Looks like a shed doesn't it? It's about twenty yards behind Valerie Mims' house. Gusev could be keeping her there." 

Hotch wanted to discount the whole thing. He didn't know what to make of Molly Prentiss. There was more to her than she and Emily were letting on, but he couldn't put his finger on it. But it was obvious that she adored Emily. She wouldn't risk her life if she were as lucid as she sounded. This was the first solid lead they'd had so he wasn't going to ignore it. 

"Make sure there's a SWAT team ready on the ground. We'll move in immediately after we touchdown." 

///


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Sorry, this one is short too! When I was mapping out the last couple of chapters, I realized that they would be better if they were grouped together in smaller segments rather than one bulky mess of events. I really should have put this part with the last chapter, but c’est la vie! Enjoy and please review! 

/// 

Emily was exhausted. But she stayed awake and alert, not wanting to miss any chance she might have to get away. 

She had been chained against the cinder block wall for what felt like an eternity. The small damp room had a dirt floor and smelt of mildew. Icy wind blew through the cracks in the metal ceiling, sending a chill through her pajama clad body. Her socks were soaked through from walking in the snow, she had no doubt that her feet were turning purple underneath. 

As far as she could tell, Remi was the only one of her captors who remained there. She had yet to see the man from the plane make another appearance, but Remi had spoken to someone on his phone about an hour before. He didn't sound too thrilled. 

From the little bit of Russian she could pick up, it sounded like he was asking where a car was. Or maybe he was asking what time a movie was? She couldn't really tell. He must have known she spoke the language, so he kept his voice low and clipped. 

"I'm thirsty." She broke the silence with her raspy voice. Though she had been dying for some water, she mainly said it just to try to get a read on the man lying on the cot in the corner. 

Remi set down his magazine-something with busty women on the cover-and lifter his head from his pillow. "Aw...that's so sad..." He chuckled before going back to his reading material. 

Emily rolled her eyes and rested her head back against the cool wall. 

/// 

The ground beneath her feet was damp with melting snow. Bark and leaves clung to her boots and she could practically feel the mud that was beginning to cake on the soles. It didn't necessarily bother her, as she had far more important things to worry about, but it did register in her mind. 

An ugly little taupe colored house sat on a hill about fifty feet from where she was hidden in the woods. It was the only place where she could see the driveway in front as well as the shed where Gusev held her sister-in-law. 

In the backyard of the house, a small playset with swings and a slide sat near the fence. Other than the area around it, the yard was fairly unkempt. Weeds and thorns climbed the chain link as well as the weather worn patio. Rusty chairs sat in a circle on the deck, surrounding a crudely made fire pit. 

It was the house of a Red Card Wife if she ever saw one. 

Every now and then, she'd step closer towards Emily's prison and listened to make sure that no one had opened the door. When she'd first arrived, Gusev's thick voice could be heard through the concrete walls and it took all of her strength not to go in shooting. This man needed to feel the pain of a bullet through his chest. 

But she'd wait. Molly growled and bit her thumbnail. She'd wait impatiently. 

/// 

Hotch nearly had a heart attack when the pilot announced that they would have to circle the airport for a little while until they had a runway open. 

Newport was only about twenty minutes from the location Molly had given them, so they at least knew that they would have a short trip when landing. 

"Relax." JJ pleaded, watching the Unit Chief pace the aisle with his hands shoved in his pockets. "Remember what Molly said? They won't hurt Emily if she's not there. So we just need to go in before she does." 

"Molly has already proven how hot-headed she can be." Hotch muttered, keeping his eyes straight ahead. "I don't really trust her to wait for us." 

"I doubt she would have contacted us if she intended on going in alone." Reid said, sitting up eagerly when they felt the jet begin to descend. "She obviously knows that it's pertinent that we be there first. I mean, she knew we were hours away, but she still insisted that we come up. If she thought it would be possible to save Prentiss on her own she would have just hung up." 

This didn't seem to put Hotchner’s mind at ease. He ground his teeth and gripped the top of the seats on either side of him to brace himself for the landing. 

He was prepared to dart out the door as soon as they finished taxiing. 

/// 

"Come on. Come on." She whispered through her teeth, checking her watch. It had been four hours since she had contacted Agent Jareau. They were coming, that much she knew. This was a team that worked with gut instincts. If they had a lead, they went for it. And she had given them the exact location of their missing agent. They'd have to be idiots not to go. 

A voice-tiny and high-pitched-permeated the air. 

Molly froze and moved her eyes back towards the house. 

The petite child burst through the back door and navigated the jungle of a lawn until she made it to the swing set. She was a towheaded little girl with pale skin and rosy cheeks. Flaxen pigtails, tied with little yellow ribbons, peaked out from beneath her red knit cap. The hat was too big on her tiny head and Molly knew without looking closer that there was a small tear on the bottom seem. 

It had happened when Flynn caught his fishing hook on it that spring. 

Her stomach clenched at the sight of her son's hat being carted off as a souvenir to this bastard's kid. She would have given into the urge to vomit if her mind hadn't been going a mile a minute. 

With one more look at her watch, she let out a sigh and knelt down to root around in her backpack. 

She hated herself for what she was about to do. But it would be worth it if it meant she could not only save Emily, but also avenge Flynn's death. 

"Two birds, one stone." Molly muttered, pulling her butterfly knife out and cautiously approaching the backyard.


	8. Chapter 8

Somehow, Hotch kicked the SWAT team leader out of the driver seat of his own car. Morgan didn't ask questions though. He had been exhausted after hopping off his flight from Montana and driving four hours from Sussex to Derby Line. Never had he done so much traveling in one day. 

"It's this neighborhood coming up on the right!" JJ called from the back seat, not tearing her eyes from the GPS on her phone. "Then we'll go straight for about two miles." 

She got a brief text from Molly while they were still in the air. "Ugliest house on the street." Was all it read. So she kept her eyes peeled for something matching that description. 

"Did you try calling Molly?" Reid asked from the seat beside her. 

"Her phone's off." JJ sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "She doesn't even have a voicemail set up. But I think she can get a read on our location somehow, so hopefully she knows we're here." 

Hotch pulled up to the curb of a vacant lot. "We'll walk from here." He muttered, nodding to the SWAT Chief who gestured to the men in the following vehicles. 

The wind had picked up. This wouldn't have been such a big deal had that not planned on doing some shooting today. 

/// 

Molly made it back into the woods with no time to spare. She closed her eyes at the memory of the cries she had just elicited from an innocent child. But she did was had to be done. At least, she hopes she did. 

She didn't hesitate before running on light feet to the shed. In the back of her head, she applauded herself for not slipping on the iced over mud surrounding the concrete structure. It would have been really hard to confront this man with a muddy ass. 

Voices were coming from the inside. Two-Emily's and Remi's. Molly regulated her breathing until only the tiniest puffs of it could be seen in the air. She slowly set down her backpack and pressed her ear to the door, but it was metal and muffled most of what was being said. Emily sounded calm at least. As if there was any doubt. 

/// 

"You must think you're pretty tough." Emily sized up the man pacing before her. "Shooting a little boy. That must have felt so empowering." 

Remi chuckled and took a puff of his cigar. "No, no. That only felt okay." He gave her a grin, his chapped lips spread to reveal his yellow teeth. "What really felt great was hearing that bitch cry. She cried like a baby, for her baby. She had to pay for what she did, and now she has." 

"She had to pay for killing the man who was tormenting her? Tormenting a whole town!" She had to resist rolling her eyes. This man was delusional. "If I can forgive her for it, then you should too!" 

"I will never forgive her!" The Russian practically stomped his foot like a stubborn toddler. "And you are scum for accepting what she did to your own brother. A great man!" 

Emily scoffed. "A great man. Yeah! A great man who killed innocent families because their dead relatives owed money. A great man who slept with underage prostitutes night after night while his pregnant wife slept on the floor of their son's nursery. A great man who shot your mother between the eyes because she dared to argue with him!" Her voice grew louder. "He was filth Remi. And you're living up to his legacy." 

During her rant, he had moved closer to her. So she barely had time to react when he charged forward punched her square in the jaw. She couldn't stop the cry of pain that tore through her as her head slammed back against the wall, but she bit back the agony after a moment. 

He wouldn't win. 

A sound from the outside startled him. He paused before striking her again and tilted his head to listen. Neither of them really knew what it had been, but it was loud enough to draw both of their attention. 

Remi put his cigar out on the wall beside her head and stomped over to the door. He swung it open with a fierce growl, hoping to scare off any children who had been playing in his woods, but there was nothing there. "Damn dogs." He muttered, slamming it shut again. 

He was just turning to confront Emily again when something slammed into the back of his head. 

He hit the ground with a thud, dirt flew up around his massive body. 

Emily's jaw dropped as her eyes moved from his to Molly's. 

/// 

The blonde woman who answered the door after three or four urgent knocks, gasped when she saw agents and swat team taking up her already cluttered porch. Before she could get a word out, Morgan and JJ pushed by her and made their way into the house with their guns drawn. 

"Ma'am, we're looking for Remi Gusev. Is he here?" Derek asked peering into the kitchen where a little boy sat in his highchair, spoon half raised to his messy face in shock. 

"He came by this morning to grab his tools." The woman's accent was as heavy as her ex-husbands. "He played with the children for a few minutes and then left. What's this about?" 

"If you could grab your children and step outside for a moment, the officers out there will explain." JJ said gently, taking her arm and leading her into the kitchen to get her son. 

The woman gave her a sideways look, but did as she was told. "Lucya!" She shouted out the open kitchen window into the backyard. "Lucya, priyekhat'!" She lifted the boy from the highchair and waited patiently for the little girl to come running. 

JJ examined the neighboring rooms, wanting to stay close in case the woman decided to alert Remi of their presence. When she heard a startled shout come from the kitchen she hurried back in just as the woman was rushing out the back door, yelling her daughter's name. 

/// 

When his eyes opened, Molly was standing over him with her hands on her knees. 

"Oh. Oh, look who's up." She crooned, reaching forward and patting his cheeks with a soft smile. "Took you long enough!" 

He had only been out for about three minutes-enough time for Molly to lift his deadweight up onto his cot-but it had felt like an eternity. Emily's team would be there any minute and there was a lot to be done before then. 

Gusev moved to strike her, but found that his arms wouldn't move. In fact, nothing would move. With a quick look, he noted that he wasn't restrained. But something wasn't right. 

Seeing his panic, Molly simpered and held up an empty syringe. "Don't tell me you forgot about the Red Magic." She said, tossing the object on his chest. "It was Nicky's favorite solution to people who fought him. Or didn't fight him. He didn't discriminate at least." 

She produced her butterfly knife and ran it down his arm, producing a thin line of blood. When Remi cringed she knew he could still feel everything. This pleased her greatly. 

/// 

The woods behind the house were thick and hard to navigate, but Rossi, Hotch, and Reid were able to get through it quickly with the adrenaline coursing through them. They knew that the shed wasn't too far from the edge of the forest, but it must have been well hidden. 

Molly was nowhere to be found, so they assumed that she had the sense to stay out of the way until everything was taken care of. 

Hotch suspected otherwise. 

/// 

"Remi, I'm surprised at you." Molly fake tsk'ed, playing with her knife with a pout. "You spent so much time with my late husband, and you've already forgotten so much about him." 

Emily watched the exchange, not even daring to swallow with fear of throwing it back up. Molly hadn't untied her yet. She had a feeling that it was because she knew she would stop her from what she was about to do. 

"Not only did you forget his favorite poison." Molly plucked the syringe back up and tossed it out of the way. "But you also forgot a whole lot about his wife. Didn't you?" 

Gusev had the nerve to snarl at her. He couldn't speak, due to the drug, so he conveyed his disdain with his face. It would have worked had there not been so much fear in his eyes. 

"Don't you remember Remi boy? Don't you remember what I used to do. What I can do?" Molly sat on the edge of the cot and tilted her head. She reached into her pocket and pulled something out, smiling when the man's eyes widened. 

The yellow bow was still attached to the ponytail that landed on his upper chest. Only now it had blood on it. Blood that seeped into the white hair. 

Remi let out a choked cry. 

"How could you have forgotten how little I cared about consequences Remi?" Molly played with the pigtail, making sure he got a very good look at it. "And when you took away my son, my will to live, you took away the last damn I'll ever give. Hope it was worth it." 

Realizing what she had just implied, Emily let out a startled gasp and stared at her sister-in-law. Willing her to look at her and tell her that she was bluffing. But Molly didn't turn her way. Instead she reached down beside the cot and produced another weapon. 

An axe. 

/// 

"I see it!" Rossi shouted from behind him. 

Hotch skidded to a halt and immediately took off in Dave's direction. 

They didn't really know how they missed the shed, sitting in a clearing with sunlight pouring through the branches onto it. But they found it. 

"The door's open." Reid was already defeated. He lowered his gun and turned to the other agents just as a voice came from inside. 

"Hello?" 

"Prentiss!" Hotch pushed pass the other men and charged through the door, immediately zoning in on the terrified brunette chained to the wall. In two strides he made it to her side. "Hang on, I'll get these off." 

Emily nodded towards the other side of the shed. "The keys are in his pocket." 

The three men look in the direction she'd indicated. 

Remi was laid out on the cot, bleeding profusely. His arms had been chopped off but they remained at his side. Tears ran down the Russian's ashen face as he silently pleaded to them for help. 

/// 

Prentiss insisted that she walk. 

She wasn't about to be wheeled out of there alongside the monster who had held her captive. "We have to find Molly." She said wrapping Aaron's jacket tighter around her form as they stumbled through the forest. "She can't be too far away." 

The redhead had disappeared as soon as she heard the team approaching. She had cut off Remi's arms so effortlessly, as though she were just chopping firewood. 

"Let's get you taken care of, and then we'll look, okay?" Hotch kept an arm around her, holding her close to him. It didn't really matter to him how suspicious it looked. He had her back and that was all that mattered at the moment. 

When they rounded the house, nearing the ambulance parked on the front curb, Emily let out a soft gasp and collapsed against his side. "Oh thank god!" She whispered staring towards the crowd of people who had gathered to view the spectacle. 

Hotchner followed her gaze to where Remi's ex-wife stood. She held the baby sleeping in her arms and standing at her side was a sniffling little girl with only one pigtail.


	9. Chapter 9

Okay! Last chapter! I hope to wrap this story up nicely, but I'm leaving it a bit open in case I decide to sequel it. Let me know if you all might be interested in me continuing this series. I hate to pound OC's into people's heads, but I have enjoyed writing this story very much. Either way, some feedback would be greatly appreciated. I don't usually get the time to write, so I'd like to know what you guys think! 

And thank you for all of the wonderful reviews I've received thus far! 

/// 

James Baldwin wrote, “The victim who is able to articulate the situation of the victim has ceased to be a victim: he or she has become a threat.” 

Remi would be taken to a local hospital for treatment. When he was as recovered as he'd ever be, he'd be shipped off to Black Dolphin in Russia. The FBI pulled some strings to make sure he would be in one of the worst prisons in the world and Molly helped make the situation worse by detaching his arms. 

"She did an incredible job given her limited tools." Reid commented, staring at the crime scene photos with admiration. He looked to Rossi in the seat opposite of him on the jet. "The location where she severed made it to where it would be impossible for any doctor to reattach them. And prosthetics would be nearly impossible unless an exorbitant amount of funds went into it." 

"And I doubt his government will be willing to invest much into him." Derek added, placing his go bag on the couch to save his seat before rushing back towards the entrance of the jet. "Five minutes guys!" He warned the three agents who remained outside. 

Emily looked to Hotch and JJ and sighed. "I was really hoping she'd get here." She sighed, glancing back towards the entrance of the airstrip. She had called Molly's phone, but as it had been before, there was no voicemail to record her message on. So she had settled for calling out into the woods the redhead had disappeared in. "Maybe she didn't hear me." 

"I hope she's okay." JJ didn't want to add any stress to the situation, but she couldn't help but worry. Molly was in mourning and she was running around on her own after brutally confronting the man who killed her son. 

"She's okay." Was Emily's reply. The other two exchanged looks, surprised by her confidence. 

"We'll find her." Hotchner pulled on Prentiss' arm gently, wanting to get her in out of the cold. "Let's get some rest, wait to see if she turns up. If she doesn't, we'll get back out there to find her." His tone held the promise that went unsaid. Emily wouldn't lose another person in her life. 

Molly was acting outside of the law and they were probably going to face an investigation due to her behavior, but she needed help. That would be the main priority for their team at least. 

Emily allowed them to lead her up the steps into the jet, not tearing her eyes away from the dense forest until the door shut behind them. Aaron even let her sit by the window so she could keep an eye out until takeoff. 

Snow began to fall as soon as they began taxiing. Tiny flakes drifted pass the wings and landed on the tarmac. The night sky was a dark purple with white swirling clouds. 

She wanted to enjoy the beautiful sight, but she couldn't circumvent the apprehension rising in her chest. The idea of looking into Molly's past had her heart racing and her mouth dry. She wasn't ready to explain all of it. Especially after everything that had happened with Doyle. Her team had to have been sick of her secrets by now. 

When all hope of Molly getting there on time was lost, Emily sighed and rested her head on Hotch's shoulder. She was physically and emotionally exhausted, and his presence was helping. 

He grinned and waited for her to relax a little more before reaching up and stroking her hair. He was aware of a couple of the gazes he was receiving from their teammates, but he was still too relieved to pay them any mind. He rested his cheek against the top of her head, closing his eyes when he heard her breathing even out after only a few moments. 

Again, she had almost been taken away from them. But she was with him and she was safe. So he wasn't going to dwell on it for now. They had a lot to worry about upon their return, including an angry Strauss. They were going to need all the sleep they could get. 

/// 

The highest branch she could climb to, without having it snap beneath her weight, sat right over the top of the fence that ran along the back side of the airstrip. 

She watched the exhausted team start to pile onto their plane. When Emily remained outside with her two companions, she felt a tug on her heart. 

"Don't worry Emmy." She said to herself, hoping her sister-in-law had picked up the art of telepathy at her fancy job. "Go home. Sleep." 

When they finally coaxed her into the jet, Molly smiled and leaned back against the large trunk. There was so much that needed to be done. She couldn't be worrying about Emily right now. At this point, her safety came first. 

The roar of the engines permeated the peaceful field and within minutes, the jet was taking off. It flew over her head and the forceful winds it created whipped her hair around her face and nearly blew her out of the tree. But she held on tight. 

As soon as they were gone, she let out a sigh of relief. As though they would have spotted her from her hiding place in the night. Nevertheless, she waited until the silence was reclaimed before unzipping the backpack in her lap and pulling out her composition notebook and a pen. 

Snow landed on the pages as she flipped through them. It would probably melt and smear the ink, but it was no matter. She had everything in it memorized. 

Her cold fingers ceased their search when she got to the page with 'G' written sloppily in the top right corner. Even then, she had to turn a couple more times, quirking another-this time darker-smile. Clicking the pen so that the ball point tip emerged, she scribbled on the back of the sheet that preceded her destination until the black ink began to flow. 

Then, without hesitation, she put a line through the Gusev, Remi. The names surrounding his had been crossed off as well. Almost his entire family had been eliminated. That was a nice feeling. 

Molly sniffled and turned a few more pages, in search of someone else. She again paused when she got to the L's. 

"Yeah." She whispered, running the tip of her index finger over the name. "See you soon."


End file.
